


Are We Growing up, or just going down?

by Sir Ships A lot (LeeTheDork)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, High School, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Other, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 07:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16363433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeTheDork/pseuds/Sir%20Ships%20A%20lot
Summary: With Homecoming over and Liz gone, Peter's being trying to help May with the bills. After applying for a job at the coffee shop, an out-of-the-blue email appears from a well-established company, Peter had never contacted before, offering him and internship despite his "Stark internship": is this just a competetor of Tony's or is this more than that?Has Peter not learnt his lesson?





	Are We Growing up, or just going down?

Peter slumped his head forward as the coach drove over each and every bump on the highway causing his stomach to churn. He never used to get travel sickness but, much to his dismay, since he was bitten it became unbearable.  His senses were bombarded with information: the ground outside rocketing backwards in blurs of grey, white and occasionally a dead, dry yellow, the assholes of students around him moving and shouting, the coach shaking and tumbling and his water bottle was as empty as his head.

 "Well maybe.... fuck Spider-man"- 

Peter's dizzy head jolted upwards,  _ Oh God, do they know?  _ "Hmm... marry Iron Man and kill Thor, you?" 

 He stared blankly at the girls in front of him as his brain tried processing the information. Contemplating the possible outcomes, he debated whether or not being killed would be the best answer in this situation for it would certainly be the least awkward considering he, actual secret Spider-man, was sitting right there.

This is like the Liz Phys.Ed. thing again. God, what is it with this game and The Avengers? Not that he is one...

"Kill Stark,"   _ Harsh, _ "Fuck Spidey and marry Thor"

Another added, "Uhh, why do you guys love Spider-man so much? I'd kill him," she continued her answer as the other made comments in an attempt to reason with her while the first girl searched around the coach before locking eyes with a flustered, wide-eyed Peter.

"Let's settle this: Peter, you're bi, who'd you do what to?"

_ Oh shit, what do I say now?  _

Sure, he'd played the exact game one hundred times before he had joined the Avengers and he knew his previous answers off-by-heart but now he had met them, he saw them more as people rather than celebrities to objectify and gush over.   Nevertheless, he knew his classmates would push him further if he were to not reply and, right now, he was too sick to fight it.

"Well Mr Stark is more of a parental figure to me so I wouldn't want to do any of those of kinds of things to him- 'cause, the internship. Which means I'd kill him? That's worse, isn't it? uhh...", he began to ramble, blushing more by the minute,  "Well, in order to not kill him I'd have to either- umm. I guess I'd marry him then divorce straight afterwards and then he could get back with Pepper. As for Spider-man, I don't think I, well, know enough about him to make that call. I mean, when you think about it, we only really have known about him being with the Avengers since- well- the accords and, ya know, I'm pretty sure he was just backup and so, umm, I guess I'd kill him... But not because I hate him! I just don't know enough about him to make a proper judgement, I guess, so that leaves Thor with- um- that"

The girls were now the ones staring blankly; a mixture of confusion and small smiles and just flustered Peter more. 

"Well I think that settles it", the third replied, " I was right and Peter and proved it" 

She gave one last quick giggle towards Peter before continuing to bicker with her friends who were still disagreeing with her at this point.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and slumped his head back against the window. In all that time, he hadn't noticed Ned taking off his headphones to listen in on the conversation or the fact he was now looking at Peter smugly. 

"So fuck Thor, marry Iron Man, huh?"

Peter turned to him from the window and grumbled out a "shut up". Ned shook his head still grinning and readjusted his headphones to listen to music once more. Peter decided it was wise to do the same and shoved his earphones in whilst put his favourite playlist on shuffle. Rihanna's Umbrella started, appropriate considering he had named the playlist "BOPS" and then he resumed the position of looking straight forward at the back of the coach chair in front of him to prevent any worsening of the travel sickness. 

_  ***** _

"Hey, May, I'm back!" He didn't know why he bothered; he knew she wouldn't be home. Since Ben's death, she had increased her work hours drastically and was now working most of the time. Taking out his earphones, he sat by his computer and started looking at more scholarship forms and internships- real ones, this time.

  Three hours passed as he filled out a few internship forms (he took a while trying to decide whether or not it was wise to sign up for Oscorp's before agreeing that it was best to.    With everything obligatory and additional completed, Peter researched a few local part-time jobs. 

 At first, he had considered the deli shop but he knew that there weren't any openings so he moved onto others. The good thing about living in New York City was there were lots of job opportunities relatively close to his home. 

 

_ The Coffee Bean- 180 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013- Opening for a part-time barista, ideal for students. No prior experience required. Looking for someone who could work 4-7pm weekdays and 12-5pm weekends. $9 per hour. If interested, fill out the form below and email:  _ _ gloriareade@gmail.com _

_ Or phone for more information at 7345 745563 _

 

It wasn't too far away; Peter could catch the subway to Midtown and walk the rest and it'd be even quicker on a school day. Above all, he felt useless watching May as she worked her ass off, returning home late and exhausted so if he could relieve the stress of incoming college costs and rent money, he would. 

The form asked for general information: address, any form of ID, age, full name, prior experience as well as any useful skills and a mobile number for contact. Peter frowned at the last part, his eyebrows furrowing as he leant back into his cheap desk chair, swinging it back and forth slightly as he sat.

Part of him wished he hadn't refused the stupidly awesome self-built phone ("S-Glass, though the name isn't final" he recalled him calling it) Mr Stark had offered him last week but the small smile and cocking of the head he received in return reassured him that it was the right decision to make. After all, his "working class vibe" was something Stark seemed to "dig" about him, it was enduring, or something. Then again, he also found the fact that Peter thought Empire Strikes Back was an old film enduring... Something Ned later scolded him for saying when they met up afterwards. 

Truth be told Peter was well aware that the film wasn't _that_ old he was just afraid that the Avengers, his childhood heroes, would figure out he was just some dork of a fanboy. Though, he knew that his cover for that had already been blown. He was so starstruck (Stark-struck, if you will) when The Tony Stark- genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist- asked to talk to Peter in his bedroom that he had forgotten about the giant Stark Expo poster hanging on his bedroom wall. 

When he had spotted it entering his room after ogling at Tony for a creepy amount of time, Peter hoped that by standing on the other side of the room he wouldn't notice it. His theory proved incorrect when Stark, being the nosy "observant" asshole he was, raked his eyes over it before smirking at the teenager and grabbing the sharpie of the desk to sign it at the bottom. If that embarrassment wasn't enough, while Peter denied the claims that he was "the uhh spiderling... spider-boy-  spider-man" that he didn't notice in time that Stark prodding at his ceiling sending his suit plummeting to the ground and even with his quick, mutant reflexes, he couldn't pick the suit up in time. 

He didn't know whether to gush or huff at the fact that Tony was acting so nonchalant over the whole situation. 

 Though he wasn't the only Avenger to act that way, Peter remembered when he first met Natasha: he stuttered out "Black Widow" and she smirked at him and replied with a cool "That would be me". Peter may or may not have choked and stumbled over his words further while falling deeper and deeper into a scarlet blush until he was pretty sure that a strawberry would be less red than he was in that moment. God, she must've thought he was such a dork- such an awkward teenage boy.

He had to admit that it was true, however, but she didn't need to know that! He bet that she now thought he was one of those boys in his class who would wolf whistle when someone mentioned her and start commenting on how "hot she was when that floating island was crashing down" or how "Cap must be gay to refuse her" something that left Peter frowning as, no, Cap could have just simply viewed her a friend before the optimistic, hopeful side of his chipped in that it could mean more people would side with his theory that Bucky and Steve were more than just best friends and that a romantic love was the reason Rogers risked his life for Bucky when the rest of the world was telling him that James wasn't the kind of person you save and was too far gone for anyone to help. 

Oh god, he's thinking too hard again. Despite appearing slung and tranquil in his chair, his mind screamed thoughts down his throat the way it always did. Like at Liz's party or on the Ferry or anytime he tried too hard to prove himself to everyone else. Yet, here he was, in his bedroom staring at the mobile phone contact number box on the form while daydreaming like a nerd. 

Thank God he had an old iPad to message Ned on. He opened Instagram to message Ned.

**PeteyPieParker:** _Ned yo_

_ Uhhh what should I do  _

_ there's a phone number section on the job form _

**NedTheJedi is typing**

Before he could see Ned's reply, FaceTime audio was ringing from an unknown number. Hesitantly, Peter accepted the call and held the iPad parallel to the floor. 

"Umm.. hello??"

"Seriously, kid, why'd you refuse the phone if you don't have one- speaking of which, what happened to your old one?" an accented voice queried out the end, between the familiarity of the pitch and the professional quality of audio, the caller's identity was clear.

"Mr-Mr Stark" Peter stuttered in response, his voice rising in pitch at the end.

"Who else would it be, kid?" 

The nonchalant reply juxtaposed Peter's stumble of a response and only further reminded Peter of how different their lives looked. 

"How'd you? How'd you get my Apple information?" questions flooded out of his lips.

A sigh could be heard from the other side, "Genius, remember? Kidding, just some simple hacking, if you'd even call it that, nothing Jarvis couldn't do on his own...That and your password for Instagram is obvious- but seriously answer the question. How'd it break and why'd you refuse my upgrade?"

"...It fell when I was on patrol through Manhattan and I would feel greedy accepting a gift that's at least worth 300 doll-"

"-Actually it's worth around 1000 bucks but go on"

Peter spluttered, "God, it’s worth more than me, how could I take it? Is it even out to the public 'cause I haven't seen it out and if it isn't then that means it's a one-off and if it's a one-off then it's worth is more-"

The answer was rich with the same features all of the teenager's rambles contained: repetition of connectives, punctuated dramatics, a littering of stutters. 

 Tony sighed over the line, "Kid, I designed it to work with the suit so if you don't take it, it'll just go unused and will be a waste- wait, what's this about it being worth more than you? I don't compliment often so believe me when I say you're the most intelligent person I've ever met when it comes to chemistry... Did you mean that in a 'skills' sense or the prostitution kind? Wait, nope, Pep said I shouldn't make jokes about that kinda shit around kids."

Peter's mouth went dry.

"The compliment's too much and it's an exaggeration but," he pauses and lowers his voice, mumbling, "Y'know I know what prostitution is, right? I'm not that young- I'm not just some kid"

"Kid, look-"

"No, Tony," he interrupted, "You trust me with the Avengers thing so can you not just treat me like any other superhero? I'll accept the phone if it satisfies you but,  _ please, _ stop calling me kid."

The other side went silent. The boy starting to worry when a response could be heard.

"You're right, ki-  _ Peter _ , I just feel like I should be taking care of you more. About the job thing... If you and your aunt are struggling then don't hesitate to contact me; she and yourself work enough and you should be concentrating on school. Happy informed me that you've stopped attending band and other extracurricular activities but I want you to live your childhood. I had to grow up fast and you've already gone through so much between your parents and your uncle. For God's sake, I was nineteen when they died and that was still young enough for me to send me into a spiral so I can only imagine what it would've been like for you at four. As for your uncle, well, May told me about that and I heard you were there when he... I really just want to help because I feel bad about it. God, that was terrible. I'm not good at the emotion talk but I hope you got the message."

Peter went quiet on the other side, "Y'know, Mr Stark," he started, "You shouldn't feel bad for something that isn't your fault... If it helps, you've helped me accept that Ben's- that Ben's gone. Sorry, this went all sad now, I know you just wanted a normal conversation without me ruining it but... Ben was the closest thing I had to a Dad after my actual one died and when he went, I just- 'M glad I have you now... You're kinda the closest thing to one now, I guess"

He could hear Tony thinking on the other side, "Well if I'm like a dad to you then you should be accepting my gifts."

Trust Tony Stark to manage to make a joke in a strangely emotional moment.

Peter scoffed, "Hmm, I suppose."

"Pete?"

"Yeah"

"You know I can and was planning on making the internship into an actual thing? As in you could work with me in my lab after school? I'd pay you if you'd like, and it'd look good on your college applications."

He paused and thought of it for a moment before shaking his head, "Sorry, Mr Stark, maybe in a year or so. It's just, right now, I wanna get a part-time job and that kinda stuff for a bit...To help May."

He could hear Tony sigh through the high-quality mic, "'Course kid... But, sometimes, you gotta be a bit selfish, okay? You seem to put everyone else before you and that might work out 9 times out of 10 but you've really gotta start thinking about what's best for you and not what's convenient for others. The offer's always there, Pete. The internship can become real the moment you ask for it too, okay?"

"Yeah...Yeah, okay."

"Right, good talk."

"Yeah."

"Bye, Pete."

"Bye, Dad."

 

Peter ended the call and stared blankly at the laptop in front of him. He processed the conversation back to himself... It was weird to see such a caring side of Tony, not that he didn't think that the man could love but it was uncommon for him to elicit his feelings to others. 

_  He said good talk to me after asking him to go to Germany, didn't he?... Wait... Wait a second... Did I...? _

PING!

Peter opened the message from the same unknown number as before in disbelief:

 

**Unknown:** Dad, huh? In that case, have a good day.... son ;)

 

_ Oh god. Holy shit, I actually called Mr Stark dad _

Peter freaked out for a moment or two at the awkward situation and already knew that Tony was never going to let this go, just like with Cap and the language thing he talks about at every press conference.

PING!

Huh? It was unlikely for Tony to double text... actually it was unlikely for Tony to text him at all.

 

**Unknown:** Your new and improved phone should be on your bed when you get back from school tomorrow like I did with the suit. Oh and clean up your room, it was a mess when I dropped that off... That did sound fatherly. I’ll leave that for May.

  
  


Peter decided to save the number under "T.S" (you know, in case any important Avenger business comes up)  and kept the form saved as a draft on his drive.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This story doesn't have too much of a plot going on yet but I hope to build one up. 
> 
> Criticism is much appreciated!


End file.
